Monday, May 5, 2008

Iron City Men Indicted In Alabama Murder

   Indictments have been issued against three men from the Iron City area, charging them with murder in connection with the January 2007 slaying of a Greenhill, Alabama, resident.

   Officials report the indictments were returned during the April session of the Lauderdale County Grand Jury. Members of the panel opted to indict father and son, William David Nard, 48, and Greg Leon Nard, 26, on one count apiece of capital murder. Norman Earnest Widdowson, 43, has been indicted on one count of murder. The indictments were served on Friday, May 2, 2008.

   The charges were issued as the result of the January 27, 2007, death of James Gregory Wright, 42. Wright’s body was found inside his home on Lauderdale County Road 130. At that time, officials reported he had been beaten and stabbed. The Iron City men were subsequently arrested on February 2.

   Prosecutors in the case alleged that the murder occurred during the commission of another felony. Shortly after Wright’s death, authorities alleged the three had gone to his home to collect $70.00 he owed one of the defendants.

   While all three defendants had initially been charged with murder, charges against both Nards were upgraded to that of capital murder – a crime which is punishable either by life imprisonment or the death penalty. Widdowson’s murder charge carries a penalty of up to life in prison. All three have entered an initial plea of “not guilty.”

   At the present time all three defendants remain incarcerated at various Alabama jails.

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